[Generals] Linyi City is in southeast part of Shandong, 117°24' - 119°11' East and 34°22' - 36°22' North, covering 9 counties and 3 districts of 17,200 km² in total, accounting to one ninth of the area of Shandong. As the largest administrative region in Shandong, it is known to all as "a good place".

[History] Called as Langjun or Yizhou in ancient time, Linyi enjoys a history of over 2,480 years and is a famous historical and cultural city in Shandong.

[Population] The population is 9.78 million, or one ninth of the total in Shandong, containing 33 nationalities such as Han, Hui, Man, Korean, Yi, Miao, Zhuang, Meng and Zang.

[Nature] Mountain area, highland and flatland share the territory evenly. In the territory, there are about 500 peaks of over 500 m above sea level and 10 over 1000 m above sea level. Main mountain ranges include Mengshan, Yishan, Lushan, and Nishan. As the second highest mountain in Shandong, Mengshan is as high as 1156 m above sea level. Yishan is 1032 m above sea level and called as "Dongzhen" in ancient time. There are four water systems of Yihe River, Shuhe River, Zhongyuhe River and Binhai, belonging to Huaihe System. Among them, Yihe River is 570 km in length with 287.5 km running in the territory. There are 7 large reservoirs and 29 medium sized reservoirs in the territory with a total capacity of 340 million m³.

[Climate] In a temperate monsoonal continental climate, the perennial average temperature is 12°C - 14°C, the average annual rainfall 824.8 mm and average frost-free period 180-230 days.

[Economy] There are 66 kinds of explored mineral resources. The deposit quantity of non-metal mineral reserves stands in an important position in China's coastal areas. The deposit of diamond ranks second in China. Biotic resources are abundant with 151 families and 1043 species of plant and 14 classes and 1049 species of animals. As one of the three largest cereal stores, there are 657,426 hectares of cultivated land and 399,267 hectares of forest, producing tobacco, peanuts, sweet potatoes, corn, honeysuckle flower, gingko, garlic, chestnut, hawthorn, pear, apple, black pepper, walnut, silkworm cocoon, white willow, Langya grass, secretio bufonis and full scorpion. Moreover, the production of other agriculture products such as cereals, oil, vegetables, fruits, meat and eggs are also takes leading positions in Shandong.

The industrial system is quite completed with light industry, textiles, machinery, chemicals, building materials, metallurgy, coal mining, foodstuff, gold and medicine. It is the building materials and gold production base of Shandong.

whole sale markets

The commerce of the city is well developed. There are 965 whole sale markets of various types, including 189 special commodity whole sale markets and 76 trading markets. The year of 1997 saw a turnover of 29 billion yuan. In Linyi Wholesale Town, there are 53 different wholesale markets and 25,000 shops, with a turnover of 17.7 billion in 1997, having been the No. 3 among the top-10 wholesale markets in China for three successive years.

In 1997, the GNP of the city was 42.7 billion yuan with an annual growth of 19.2%, of which the first industry accounted to 7.4%, the second industry 24.9% and the third industry 27.5%. The total export value amounted to over 5 billion yuan, with a foreign exchange earning of 144 million US dollars. There were 565 foreign funded enterprises with a contractual foreign investment of 430 million US dollars. The per capita yearly income was 4520 for urban population and 2053 for rural population.

[Communication] Linyi is at the eastern end of the New Eurasia Continental Bridge and adjacent to the four sea ports of Qingdao, Rizhao, Lanshan and Lianyungang in the east. It is the communication center of China with 4 national highways and18 provincial highways running across the territory, forming a road network to all directions. The general level and the density of highways surpass the country's average. The railways of Yanzhou-Shijiusuo and Pingshang-Lanshan joint in the territory and go eastwestly. The Beijing-Shanghai Expressway to be completed runs northsouthly. Linyi Airport, which is to be restored, is the a State-class-2 airport and the largest civil airport in south Shandong. It can accommodate Boeing 737 and M 82 and connect Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

Telecommunications have reached a worldwide advanced level and can over the whole globe. There are 2.65 telephones per 100 persons and 26 for urban residents. The number of mobile phone accounts to 21,000 and that of radio pager 68,000.

[Tourist resources] Linyi enjoys a long history and is the birthplace of Dongyi culture and also one of the birthplace of Chinese culture. There are some 300 interesting sites and 140 cultural relic protection units in the city. The bamboo slips of "Sun Zi Military Science" and "Sunbin Military Science" were unearthed here in Yinqueshan Han Tomb Group, which is among the top-10 greatest discoveries after 1949. Linyi is the hometown of many historically noted persons, such as Zeng Zi in Spring & Automn Period, Meng Tian of War Kingdom Period, Liu Hong, the inventor of reckoning by the abacus in East Han Dynasty, Zhuge Liang in Three Kingdom Period, Wang Xizhi, calligrapher in East Jin Dynasty, Yan Zhenqing, calligrapher in Tang Dynasty and Zuo Baogui, patriotic general in Qing Dynasty.

In the anti-Japanese war and liberation war, Linyi was an important base area and the capital of Shandong Liberation Zone. Many organs resided in Linyi, such as East China Bureau and Shandong Branch Bureau of CPC, the headquarters of New No. 4 Army and No. 1 Branch of Anit-Japanese Military University, etc.. Many proletarian revolutionists, such as Liu Shaoqi, Xu Xiangqian, Luo Ronghuan, Chen Yi, Su Yu and Luo Binghui, lived and fighted here.

Linyi City is in a low hilly area, 60% of which is covered by low hills and highlands. Taiyi mountain range and Mengshan mountain form the skeleton of famous Yimeng mountain area. The north part of it features in numerous peaks and valleys, including Mengshan, Yishan, Wenfengshan, the 72-peaks and other well known scenery attractions. The south part of it is Linyi-Tangcheng-Cangshan alluvial plain, represented by rurality. There are strange peaks and caves, beautiful lakes and water-falls and famous trees and flowers.

The three tourist themes are determined by the tourist resources of Linyi: Nature tour represented by Mengshan Mountain, culture tour represented by Dongyi Culture and patriotism educational tour represented by the memorial places of revolutionary regime establishment.

[Tourist infra-structure] Along with the economic development, the tourist infra-structure in Linyi has witnessed great improvement.

The main tourist zones are Mengshan and Menglianggu, plus hundreds of tourist spots including Yinqueshan Han Tomb Bamboo Slips Museum, Wang Xizhi's former residence, Linyi City Museum, East China Revolutionary Martyr Cemetery, Jinqueshan Park, Yimeng Lake Tourist Zone, Wang Xiang's Former residence, Former Headquarters of New No. 4 Army, Tangtou Hotspring, Yinan Beizhai Han Portrait Stone Tomb, Zhuge Liang's Former Residence, Yan Zhenqing's Former Residence, Meng Tian's Former Residence, Xingshan Water-eroded Cave, Yunmeng Lake, Pingyi Han Palace, Wulong Lake, Zuo Baogui's Clothe Tomb, Wenfeng Hill, Xun Zi Tomb, thousands mu of gingko orchard, thousands mu of pear orchard, thousands mu of pawpaw orchard, site of Maling Battle, Lying Buddha Temple Park, Yushan Hill, Yishan Hill, Muling Pass Qi Great Wall relics, site of Shandong Wartime Work Committee, site of No. 1 Branch of Anit-Japanese Military University, site of initiation of Dazhong Daily, site of headquarters of New No. 4 Army, and site of Daqingshan Battle.

Linyi is complete with tourist reception facilities. Up to now, there are four tourist hotels up to 4-stars, 13 foreigner oriented guest houses, one tourist vehicle company with 52 tourist vehicles, two tourist agents and a tourist product factory.

Linyi is convenient in tourist transportation with 5555 km of highways leading to every town and village. You can arrive Linyi from Beijing, Tianjin, Jinan, Tai'an, Qufu, Yanzhou or Rizhou by train and from Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou by air.

The native products of Linyi are known to all both at home and abroad. Lanling wine, Santa tourist shoes, Babao fermented beans, Xugong inkstone, Jinxing inkstone, Langya straw woven ware, willow woven ware, Yimeng printed cloth are attractive to all visitors. Linyi Wholesale Town is the best place for shopping.

I 2,839 foreign visitors from Korea, Japan, Singapore, U.S.A., Italy, Spain, Austria, Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan and other places were received with a foreign exchange earning of 910,000 US dollars. 2.16 million person-time of domestic visitors were received with a tourist income of 864 million yuan.